Saturday, October 11, 2014

Ebola: "Fight the disease, not the victims" Rev. Jesse Jackson Says

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

Rev. Jesse Jackson with Duncan's mother

The spread of the deadly Ebola virus in
Africa is a global health emergency. Countries around the world must
join together to mobilize the resources, build the isolation units,
supply the needed medicine, doctors, nurses and support personnel needed
to isolate and treat those afflicted, track down and monitor those who
might have been in contact, and stop the epidemic. The toll of the
victims of the epidemic — centered in the West African countries of
Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone — is rising. The World Health
Organization now reports over 7,400 confirmed or likely cases, and 3,431
deaths. On Sept. 23, the United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention estimated that without a more robust response, as many as 1.4
million cases could erupt in Liberia and Sierra Leone by January 20.
The virus is deadly, but not particularly infectious. It spreads only
from direct contact from the bodily fluids — sweat, blood, vomit — of
someone infected after the fever and other symptoms have occurred.
Sadly, the incubation period — the time after someone is infected but
before symptoms appear — lasts a week and sometimes as long as three
weeks. People can travel long distances unaware that they are carrying
the disease. This poses a challenge for health officials who must make
the public aware so that they are cautious, without spreading panic. It
also means that the entire world has a stake in countering this lethal
epidemic. The disease can be stopped. An American victim,
undiagnosed, carried the disease into crowded Lagos, Nigeria. More
people live in Lagos than in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone combined. A
vigorous response — investigating all in contact with the patient,
monitoring them, and isolating those who showed symptoms — cleared the
virus with only eight deaths. Nigeria had the public health and
governmental capacity to respond. But in West Africa, civil wars and
chronic poverty have disrupted already meager local health systems.
Doctors are scarce; health workers had no experience with the disease.
As Nigeria shows, we need mobilization, not panic, particularly with
the chilling news that a Liberian, Thomas E. Duncan, tested positive for
the disease in Dallas, the first case diagnosed in this country.
Duncan, now in critical condition, traveled to the U.S. without being
aware that he was infected. However, he did come into direct contact
with a woman while in Liberia, and he failed to report the truth on an
airport health questionnaire. When he contracted a fever, he went to the
hospital but was sent him home without proper testing. When his
symptoms grew worse, he was taken back to the hospital and isolated.
Public health authorities have mobilized, identifying and monitoring all
those who might have had contact with him. CDC officials fanned out in
the hospital and in his neighborhood to investigate. Happily, as
pediatrician Matt Karwowski reported to the Washington Post, “there was
no resistance from anyone whatsoever ... At every single door, people
welcomed us in ... They were also fearful, but not of us.” The CDC teams
have been working 18 hours a day. This epidemic is a human
disaster. It will devastate not only its victims, but also millions more
as economies freeze up, schools close, tourism dries up, and fear
spreads. In this country, some will use the epidemic to fan racial
divides or to posture on immigration. President Obama is already
criticized for providing military assistance to build hospital units and
transport necessary equipment and medicine in Liberia. Some treat
Duncan more as a criminal than a patient, due to his failing to report
the truth. His family reports that even those who have been cleared are
now shunned in their community. In Jesus’ time, lepers were treated
as unclean, sowing fear and hatred. On one of his last nights, Jesus
stayed at the home of Simon the Leper. He showed that we should be
fighting the disease, not the person. That is a lesson we should
remember in the days ahead of us." Keep Hope Alive! Love you guys.